Havana syndrome most likely caused by microwave weapon

It’s like something out of a spy thriller. A scary new weapon is the “most plausible” explanation for US spies and diplomats’ weird symptoms.

An artist’s impression of radio waves. Picture: Thinkstock

A new report has found some sort of microwave weapon was probably to blame for weird afflictions experienced by US government staffers, including CIA spies posted overseas.

Commissioned by the State Department, the report’s 19 experts concluded the “most plausible mechanism” for mysterious symptoms that effected US spies and diplomats in several countries was “directed, pulsed radiofrequency energy” – a type of radiation also found to emanate from microwaves.

Affected staff included a worker at the US embassy in Cuba in 2016 who woke in the night experiencing “severe pain” including intense pressure, a piercing sound in one ear with “directional features”, disequilibrium and nausea.

In 2017, a staffer attached to the US Consulate in Guangzhou in China made a similar complaint, one among numerous others who reported symptoms that came to be known as “Havana syndrome”.

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A worker at the US embassy in Havana, Cuba was targeted in 2016. Picture: Amil Lage/AFP

The so-called Havana Syndrome has been reported for years after American diplomats stationed in Cuba suddenly started hearing strange chirping and grating noises that always occurred while they were at home or in hotels.

What happened next was terrifying, with victims suffering headaches, memory and hearing loss, and difficulty sleeping for years. Some have become wheelchair-bound while others have been forced to wear weighted vests to correct their balance.

Many of the staffers who reported experiencing symptoms have suffered debilitating and long lasting effects.

While the report does not suggest any particular country was behind the attacks, Russia has previously been accused of using a secret “microwave weapon” to attack CIA agents.

Last month, claims emerged that China had incapacitated enemy troops with the secret device during a standoff against Indian soldiers along the Himalayan border by turning mountain tops into a microwave oven.

Eventually the State Department decided to commission a report from the National Academy of Sciences into “unexplained health effects” on employees and their families at embassies around the world.

After a review, the Academy reported the symptoms were “consistent with the effects of a directed, pulsed radio frequency (RF) energy”.

“The mere consideration of such a scenario raises grave concerns about a world with disinhibited malevolent actors and new tools for causing harm to others,” committee chair David Relman wrote in the report.

Dr Relman was not able to go into detailed specifics but made the “strong suggestion” that “subject-matter experts with proper clearance” take a closer look at the cases.

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An artist’s impression of radio waves. Picture: Thinkstock

The report was not able to completely rule out other potential causes but said an RF attack was the “most plausible” explanation.

In October, senior CIA official Marc Polymeropoulos told GQ he felt “like I was going to both throw up and pass out at the same time” when he was woken in his Moscow hotel room at the end of 2017.

The magazine also reported attacks taking place on American and Australian soil.

The report doesn’t accuse any particular country of being behind the “plausible” attacks but notes “significant research in Russia” on the technology going back decades. In November, it emerged China had allegedly used some sort of “microwave weapon” in a dispute over its border with India.